Toyota to launch new SUV in India

[condor]

The pic in that link looks to be of some concept vehicle, and not even a near-production version. Seems to be a filler for the article, and not really related to the "news" item there.

[shankar.balan]

personally I think TKML would be very well advised to indigenize production and immediately bring in their brilliant and excellent little RAV4 at a nice price.

That is a proven vehicle and will find a great deal of favour with our Indian buyers.
It is a perfect vehicle for these roads.
As is typical of Toyota they will have long wait lists if the RAV4 were to come in.
But again,as is typical of Toyota they will take zillions of years to decide and then execute.
why bother going back to the drawing board and reinventing the wheel when they have such a great vehicle already available to them, is beyond me. I would have thought leveraging their existing offerings for a strong product for India is a no brainer. add to it the fact that the RAV4 dies etc must be fully depreciated by now, so it should be clear profit all the way for them, should they bring it here!
Hope someone from TKML refers to the TBHP Forum at least once in a while!

[gthang]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

personally I think TKML would be very well advised to indigenize production and immediately bring in their brilliant and excellent little RAV4 at a nice price.

Wishful thinking, but, if you were Toyota, and your RAV4 competed with the CR-V around the world, and does so with a slight premium advantage, would you bring it to India, and price it below the CR-V? I doubt.

Cheers.

[andromeda]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

RAV4 is a fortuner segment vehicle in other countries. It is unlikely in my view that they would bring in the RAV4. Moreover, RAV4 at 12 lacs heck even 16 lacs ex showroom seems lucrative to me.

RAV4 is a small SUV (4-seater) and is definitely possible to start at 10-12L in India !! Anything more than that, they fall into the XUV segment and there's no comparison. Fortuner is more in the Highlander/4Runner segment (4 adults + 2 kids).

If Toyota is aiming for the 10-12L segment, not sure if getting an SUV based on the Etios would get them the numbers.

[_raVan_]

A 5 seater Rav4 will be perfect in that price slot I guess. Personally, I would go for it if compared with the XUV and Yeti 4x2, but this will be only if they dont compromise on the quality.

Having said that, I suppose Toyota will take another 2 years to enter this into production. Till then, Ford's Ecosport will take on the market.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Having said that, I suppose Toyota will take another 2 years to enter this into production. Till then, Ford's Ecosport will take on the market.

The Duster and Ecosport details have started stirring up this segment.
Add to it a product like XUV thrown in, smack in that price range to heat up competition.

Automakers have started realizing that there is a sitting duck of a market segment
waiting to explode. In the next two years, this segment should get filled with all
new and innovative products.

[shankar.balan]

the RAV4 (slightly older generation smaller sized one - 5 seater) would be perfect to take on this segment. of course they would need to refresh it nicely and bring it in.

[srishiva]

I think this is one new segment which is bereft of any choice. Anyone moving into this first will have a big advantage. With all other segments being populated with multiple models, people really need some vehicles in this segment.

[amrisharm]

I just hope Toyota does not end up bringing out a product that looks like the Yeti, which does not quite look like an SUV.

Also I doubt that they will bring the RAV4 to India as the cost does not make sense. Back in 2007 when I was in australia, an entry level Petrol RAV4 used to cost 12.4 lakhs itself. Here the talk is about 10-12L. So it will be a modified Etios platform based SUV, most likely Front-wheel drive with the rear wheels kicking in when slip is detected.

None the less, good news for us as it gives us buyers more choice.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by gthang

Wishful thinking, but, if you were Toyota, and your RAV4 competed with the CR-V around the world, and does so with a slight premium advantage, would you bring it to India, and price it below the CR-V? I doubt.

Cheers.

Actually why not? Considering that the CRV is a CBU import while what Shankar is suggesting is a RAV4 built in India not even a CKD/SKD. The CRV presently averages close to "0" in sales since the last 6 months in short is not a market dud - though it earlier did well at much lower price points and before the number of options and diesel varient in the market increased manyfold.

The CRV does not deserve to command the price that it sells for - hence it does not sell - the high price is mainly due to the CBU factor, and if built in India it too would slot in well below the fortuner - which is a CKD/SKD (hence also reasonably expensive but not as much as the CRV.

A Etios platform SUV somehow does not appeal too much, we are then going down the lines of a built to cost (read feels cheap) Toyota SUV, that would cause greater brand dilution then bringing the RAV4 and working on costs.

[sahakar]

Who would buy a cheap cost cut Toyota SUV which is based on the Etios. Definitely not Team-BHPers

Cheers

[suhaas307]

Hmmm.. A mini SUV specially designed and engineered for developing markets.

I'd rather not.

That said, if Toyota wants the cash registers to ring constantly, it would be a good prospect, and a great alternative to the ageing Safari and the Scorpio. Assuming that they price it just a notch below the Innova. But that would mean engineering a fresh product from ground-up, because as far as I know, Toyota has no SUV in that range.

If it's going to be the 12-18 lakh that they're looking at, I'd advise them to rather not bother. At the moment, the only 5-Seater SUV they have in their portfolio is the RAV4. And if that retails in that bracket, it will be a low-volume car, whether it is localized or not, IMO. It would cauyse problems to the Yeti, but it will have its own problems in the form of the XUV, Merlin, etc..

[nawalsingal]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Hope someone from TKML refers to the TBHP Forum at least once in a while!

Hope all Car manufacturers do the same. It'll save them lot on market research & help them get unbiased, honest feedback. (only if they are interested)

[raj_5004]

Judging by how Toyota priced the bare basic Fortuner & what they provided in a 7 lakh Etios, I think their 12 lakh SUV would be a small 5 seater SUV with barely any features & lots of cost cutting evident.

[ssh1979]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

bare basic Fortuner

Would like to know why you call the Fortuner "bare basic"?